Seed the stars
by kiku65
Summary: Last of the 'pivotal moments' oneshots. Based in RotS, reveiews are always welcome.


**Seed the stars**

Revenge of the Sith, and the end of the journey (pauses for relieved cheers). NOT set at the end of the film, because the end actually started about an hour earlier into it. Or so I thought.

I tried- really tried- not to plagiarize Mathew Stover's portrayal of this scene in his novel of RotS. I swear any similarities are entirely unintentional, my fault, worthy targets of rotten tomatoes etc.

Oh yeah- /insert disclaimer

* * *

_All things die, Anakin. Even stars burn out._

Obi-Wan told this to his apprentice, and in a way it is about to decide the fate of the Republic he loves. His apprentice never forgot those words, and now, as he sprints up stairs two at a time, they pound round his head in a heartbeat drumming the lesson into his skull.

_All things die, Anakin._

That's what he is afraid of. Obi-Wans' lesson had been intended to teach him to let go, cut himself off from attachment. In truth it had done the opposite.

_Even stars burn out._

Anakin himself had sometimes been compared to a star. The poster boy of the Republic, the Hero With No Fear, the Star of the Jedi. The hope of the galaxy.

_Even stars burn out._

Anakin Skywalkers' star is about to die.

* * *

This is Anakin Skywalker: 

You run and run, and the stairway is as long and infinite as the galaxy itself, a tunnel stretching into a nightmare. Your legs are aching and your lungs burn, but compared to the pain in your heart these are small, petty. Not worth noticing.

For you it is as if the corridor is your life, flickering past you as you run and run, sweeping past memory. Childhood, slavery, leaving for the Jedi, your mother dieing, marriage, all the battles, the friends you have lost, the pain you endured, the men who died under your command... all gone as you rush away, letting them flounder in the backwash of your fear.

Vision dims and swirls as you reach the door to your future, a future you cannot dare guess at. You slow, and falter to a walk as you think what you must have to do. Or not do. Once you go through there will be no going back- for anyone. You will have opened the door to your destiny, and it will sweep you away.

But you will willingly be swept away, if those you care about can be saved from the flood.

You palm the lock and open the door.

* * *

_I water we are born, in fire we die. We seed the stars._

A piece of philosophy from an unlikely source. Even clones need a little spiritual solace, facing death each day it would be hard_ not_ to. Those two sentences represent the entirety of their deep thought.

_In water we are born_. In the clone pits of Kamino, in artificial wombs. Never knowing a mothers' comfort, or a father's protection. Only the comradeship of brothers in a harsh world.

_In fire we die_. Most will, torn apart by rockets, blown to pieces in space or burned alive by blaster fire. They are bred, quite simply, to die. Anakin had never really grasped the idea of that like the other Jedi, and even now would put his own life at risk to save a trooper. A failing in the eyes of his peers, an attachment to the lives of others.

_We seed the stars_. The dead drift, disintegrate, and dissolve away. They are absorbed into the earth of a million planets or burned in simple ceremonies and have their ashes scattered by the winds of a thousand worlds. Eventually, they knew, their atoms would form a star.

If Anakin had perhaps paid more attention he might have learned the part of Obi-Wans lesson that Obi-Wan had missed out.

* * *

The scene you walk in on will be imprinted on your mind forever. 

There- Jedi Master Mace Windu. The deadliest Jedi in the Order. The most skilled dualist. The most respected Master, six foot two inches of instant death or instant protection with a bar of purple light than shines amethyst in the darkness.

The translucent blade pointing at the kindest, wisest man you have ever met, who has trusted and been trusted by you ever since you were a small boy. The Chancellor of the Republic, for many a symbol of its hope. Palpatine of Naboo.

Cowering on the floor, while the Jedi above him pronounces him under arrest.

How, _how_ can the kindly old man at the end of that lightsaber be a Sith? Sith are brutal and evil, like the Zabrak on Naboo who killed Master Qui-Gon. They are cunning and vindictive, like Dooku when he cut off your arm. If Palpatine is really a Sith, why doesn't he rise up in furious hatred and strike Windu down. Why does he just _lie there_?

But he told you he was a Sith himself, so it leads you to wonder... if the Sith are not spiteful, cruel monsters, what does that make them? A threat? An infection?

An ally?

You look at them both and listen.

"Anakin... I told you it would come to this!"

He had, and you wonder if this is simple political know-how, or something else...

"I was right. The Jedi are taking over!"

... something, perhaps, that only the Sith could do? See the future, guess what was to come?

Because _you_ can do that as well. And if the Sith can do it...

"The oppression of the Sith shall never return!"

... what does that mean for you?

The Jedi can see the future, true, but if the Sith can as well... what was the difference between them? Hadn't Palpatine already asked you that?

And you're so tired, so sick of trying to _guess_ and _wonder_ and _question_, so fed up with having to _know_, having to be _right_ all the time, when one sweep of a lightsaber, in all your experience, can make things so _clean_. One decisive action, and who cares what you feel while you do it? Who _cares_? The results are the same.

"_You_ have _lost_."

And by the looks of it Mace Windu isn't being very Jedi-like. You can feel the repressed rage and adrenalin poring off him in a tide. Is _this_ the man who refused you entry into the Order all those years ago?

Mace Windu is clouded by darkside emotions, you can practically _taste_ them. A part of you wonders why it is the Jedi who is gloating here, and not the Sith. If Palpatine is so evil, so manipulating, why is Mace Windu lording his power over him? Why, in fact, is Palpatine being brave and noble, while Windu is spouting out his victory over an old man?

"No..."

The word brings this line of thoughts to a halt, and you look at the defiant Sith. He is shaking his head.

"No... _you_ have lost!"

Before you can think what he means, before you can even _breath_, a torrent of blue lightning pours forth from the supposedly beaten body on the floor, purple flame arcing in a half-circle to intercept it. This is the power of the Sith, beating back the only Jedi who is here to face it, and you think for a moment you can feel generations of Jedi looking on in stunned amazement.

And generations of Sith cheering on their descendant.

You almost run forward, the sheer shocking_ power_ of Palpatine's attack driving you to protect a fellow Jedi. But no, he is turning the power back on its maker, and Palpatine is shouting...

"_He's a traitor_!"

You hesitate, because this looks very much like treason to you... but now Windu is yelling-

"_He_ is the traitor!"

- and you stop yourself again, because from the Jedi point of view he is entirely right. The Sith are traitors. The Jedi are defenders of peace. Everything is simple, but you know it isn't, not really...

"I have the power to save the ones you love..."

The ones you love. _Padmé_. Dear Force, could you save her without him? You can't even _think_ of a way.

Is it possible... if he was taken prisoner... you could bargain with him, plead for him to the Jedi in exchange for knowledge, a chance to save the life of your wife...

But even then, could it stay a secret? Would you still be a Jedi?

"... you must choose."

To be a Jedi is to choose.

* * *

No one falls by accident. There is always a choice. 

You can't say _I was angry_. You can't say _I never meant it to happen_. But to follow the dark path requires the walker to step onto the track and decide where they will go.

What happens next is their responsibility. Everyone can choose. Even the clones can choose, if they ever thought about it. Some already have. Jedi choose, Sith choose, every being, animal, plant, even _microbes_... all can choose their own fate.

To be a Jedi is to choose, because the Jedi follow the Force.

And it is the will of the Force that all have will.

* * *

"Don't _listen _to him Anakin..." 

Don't listen? Don't _listen_? How can't you listen? If Windu even knew what he was offering... if he even _guessed_... how can you _not listen_?

But maybe you will never have to tell him that, because Palpatine is fading. The lightning is weakening, he is gasping _I can't hold it any longer_, and now you stand sickened at what happens next.

The Sith Lord, the great threat to the galaxy, gasps out, "I...I'm too weak, I'm..."

And as the lightning fades away he feebly calls your name. "_Anakin_."

And while he struggles for breath and shrinks in fear at the Jedi before him, the Jedi lights the room with the fire in his eyes and states the future of the galaxy.

"I am going to end this,_ once_ _and for_ _all_."

Unfortunately it is not the end he wished for.

But this cannot happen, because you are both Jedi and _you know the rules_. Jedi don't kill without trial. They are peacekeepers. They don't murder helpless old men at night, they stand in front of courts, they bring _justice_. If a Jedi can stand here and act like the Sith are supposed to, what's the_ difference _between them?

And right now, the only difference you can think of is that one can offer salvation for the ones you love, while the other is preparing to slay him.

You try to stop him, you try to reason-

"You can't, it's not the Jedi way!"

But in the deepest corner of your heart you know Windu won't listen. Not after all that has happened, a lifetime of hearing the evil of the Sith, fifty years of Jedi doctrine guiding his saber. He won't even pause.

"He must stand trial!"

The Chancellor is depending on you, and you try again, not even knowing you say the words. They come only from your desperation.

"_I need him_!"

_I need him to save Padmé!_

He doesn't stop. All you see is his determination, his decision to act on his ideals. But your ideals don't match anymore.

You don't think. You act purely from instinct, as the sheet of purple swings downwards, your blue flame swings _up_.

Up and through, a clatter of metal and meat applauding the action as the swing finishes.

* * *

Anakins star is about to die. 

But it is not dead yet. Its light is only dimmed, its radiance flickering in the choking blackness poisoning it. Yet it still shines. For now.

There is one final choice to make.

* * *

In a blast of blue light, it's all over. All of it. 

The fight. Windus' life. Your knighthood. Everything.

Everything but one thing.

The Chancellor is reassuring you, but you don't hear the words. All you can hear is your own voice.

"What have I_ done_?"

Your own muscles have abandoned you in terror of your actions. You have killed a Jedi. a Jedi Master. You did it on purpose, to save the life of a Sith.

That is what you have done, and the sheer horror of it will make it resonate in your mind for a lifetime.

"You did well, Anakin."

Well? Not well. Just necessary.

You can hear the Chancellor, far away somewhere. He is telling you to join him. He is offering you the power you need, power the Jedi have never even _hinted_ at. It's the only way for you.

If you think of this as_ necessary_, it becomes... easier. Less terrible. You can look up at the face of the one you saved.

But that face is so horrific you drop your gaze, and speak your words to the floor.

"I will do whatever you... ask." Oh Force, what will he ask? More deaths on your conscience? You can only pull through with the help of her face in your memory... "Just help me to save Padmé's life."

_The star fades._

You sob, fear catching you by the throat. "I can't live without her."

You can't, you_ can't._ You have no-one else now, not after_ this_. You _can't lose her_!

You know what he says, that the Force is strong with you. You know. You are the Chosen One. You are Chosen now, as a Sith, by a Sith.

_The star flickers_.

"Henceforth, you will be known as Darth..."

The Force itself ceases its dance for a moment, and you listen to the silence. It will spawn a new man.

Stronger. More powerful. Better.

You hear the sound of your destiny calling.

"... Vader."

_The star dies.

* * *

_

_Everything dies, Anakin. Even stars burn out._

So Obi-Wan said. But he was a bad teacher, he forgot half the lesson.

He forgot the very nature of the Force itself.

No darkness without light. No death without life.

The clones knew, better than any Jedi. they knew they seeded the stars of eternity with their blood, they gave hope and freedom to those yet born. They were future givers of life and light. That even though fire would burn them today, their essence would burn forever in the light of a new sun.

So what Obi-wan said should have been completed.

_Everything dies, Anakin. Even stars burn out._

_But they seed new stars._

Anakin has already brought hope to the galaxy. He has created new light already, it lies in the womb of his wife.

But in irony, it is not one new star, but two.

Twin Suns, born into darkness. Like stars themselves.


End file.
